There is a storm rising in the midst of enterprise networks today. It builds quickly and overtakes unsuspecting companies as the popularity of virtual initiatives causes data volumes on their networks to swell to proportions too large to access efficiently over existing bandwidth. The challenge then becomes one of optimizing underlying network infrastructure in order to support the increased flow of traffic caused by the data surge.

Application virtualization, cloud computing and Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs) deliver enormous management and costs savings, but these benefits are offset when application performance hampers end user productivity. This often happens when virtual applications and desktops are delivered across a Wide Area Network (WAN). Optimizing the WAN and improving network stability is therefore paramount to ensuring companies meet their business objectives and take full advantage of the technology in which they have invested large amounts of money…

Solution providers aren’t the only ones seeking to capitalize on cloud computing. Distributors are making their mark in the cloud as well, investing heavily in their own cloud programs and tools with one goal in mind: staying relevant to solution providers as the technology landscape shifts underneath them yet again.

As more businesses adopt cloud technology, some channel observers feel distributors run the risk of disintermediation as sales of on-premise hardware and software lose share to off-premise solutions. Solution providers are forging relationships directly with cloud vendors, and the need for the so-called middleman will become obsolete. Or so the theory goes.

It’s a battle distributors have faced before. In the past few decades, distributors have seen obstacles posed by the Internet, the direct model, ever-shrinking product margins, and the commoditization of technology itself. Each time, distributors met the challenge. They automated processes, slashed their own costs and built or bought resources when necessary. And they’ve remained relevant. Case in point: The world’s largest distributor, Ingram Micro, expects to close fiscal 2011 with more than $35 billion in revenue, its biggest year ever…

Veghte, who used to run the $15 billion Windows unit at Microsoft, joined HP in 2010 as head of software, a job he will keep. He is also supposed to head HP’s cloud and webOS open source initiatives.

HP said that as chief strategy officer, Veghte’s supposed to "help define the IT industry’s future and make certain HP continues to lead the way," adding that his "new role reaffirms HP’s commitment to providing customers with the latest platforms, products and services needed for success in a rapidly changing world."…

Cloud security transparency today equates to a non-disclosure-agreement discussion between an enterprise and service provider over the provider’s controls. The end result may satisfy the customer and lead to business for the provider, but the process isn’t efficient for either side.

A lot of CIOs are fearful they don’t believe they know enough about the cloud.

Chris Richter, vice president of managed security services, Savvis.

Despite several standards-based efforts, providers don’t have a repeatable mechanism for these types of interactions, and customers often don’t get an apples-to-apples comparison of providers…

Microsoft staged a Private Cloud Day Tuesday to herald the coming of System Center 2012 sometime between now and the end of June.

System Center 2012 will put Microsoft squarely in the private cloud business and put VMware’s teeth on edge because it’s cheaper and reportedly has the same bells and whistles as VMware’s widgetry.

According to IDC VMware will have to start competing on price.

Once Microsoft’s private cloudware is out there it’ll have the makings of a hybrid model – which is what most people say they want – governed by the same management tools and offering a consistent view of application performance and data in both environments…

If the future is heading toward "cloud computing," where most of your data lives on someone else’s server, can you trust the cloud to keep a secret? Researchers say they’ve found a way to guarantee that your information will be secure in the cloud, using quantum entanglement.

The technique is called blind quantum computing, and it adds one more piece to a puzzle that could eventually be assembled into an entirely new infrastructure for data processing. Theoretically, quantum computers could outdo classical computers when it comes to making weather predictions, simulating biological processes, analyzing chemical reactions and, not incidentally, deciphering secret codes. Data security could become an even bigger issue than it is today…

When it comes to cloud computing data center audits, everyone seems to be jumping on the SSAE 16 bandwagon. Indeed, SSAE 16 is a relatively new audit standard that essentially replaces the aging SAS 70 standard. Scan the market and you’ll find numerous cloud computing companies and cloud services providers announcing SSAE 16 compliance since January 1, 2012. The big question: Will SSAE 16 really give customers peace of mind as they evaluate cloud data center partners?

Companies that have made SSAE 16 compliance announcements so far in January 2012 include:…

Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel isn’t concerned about possible pushback from Congress now that agencies are in full cloud computing mode.

But VanRoekel said he’s not taking congressional buy-in for granted, especially after lawmakers forced the Army to pause and report back to them on the benefits of putting their email system in the cloud.

"It’s an opportunity for us to work with Congress, to work with the Army and the Department of Defense to think about this stuff," he said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio after a recent AFFIRM lunch in Washington, D.C. "I think we have a great opportunity to work with industry on evolving the cloud and cloud technology to meet the needs of a 21st century government. It’s there in large part especially in a business-model side and I think on a technology side we could really take it further. I’ve been personally working with NIST — and as an extension of that, the industry — to rethink the cloud as we know it. I think we have an opportunity to continuously improve and drive this stuff forward."…